Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has released a series of guidelines to address human-wildlife conflict (HWC) in an effective and efficient manner. Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupendra Yadav has released the 14 guidelines, which are advisory in nature, that aim to facilitate a common understanding among key stakeholders.
Recently, the ministry has shared detailed data on human-wildlife conflicts, which cause the deaths of humans. Data shows a rising trend of increasing HWC, with around 1,200 people dying in attacks by tigers and elephants across several states. In 2021, 57 human deaths were caused by tigers, which increased to 106 in 2022. Elephants caused 461 deaths in 2021, which increased to 534 in 2022. Out of the 14 guidelines, ten are specific to mitigating human conflict with elephants, gaurs, leopards, snakes, crocodiles, rhesus macaques, wild pigs, bears, blue bulls and blackbucks.
The other four guidelines are related to effective communication through different media, occupational and health and safety, crowd management in the conflict-related situation, and addressing health emergencies and potential health risks arising out of HCW. The guidelines were developed under the Indo-German cooperation project on HWC mitigation. They will be implemented by MoEFCC in collaboration with the forest departments of Karnataka, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.
The German government’s charity arm GIZ will also help in their implementation. The guidelines were prepared after hundreds of regional and national consultations with over 1600 participants between 2018-2022. They will be reviewed every five years.
NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has released a series of guidelines to address human-wildlife conflict (HWC) in an effective and efficient manner. Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupendra Yadav has released the 14 guidelines, which are advisory in nature, that aim to facilitate a common understanding among key stakeholders.
Recently, the ministry has shared detailed data on human-wildlife conflicts, which cause the deaths of humans. Data shows a rising trend of increasing HWC, with around 1,200 people dying in attacks by tigers and elephants across several states. In 2021, 57 human deaths were caused by tigers, which increased to 106 in 2022. Elephants caused 461 deaths in 2021, which increased to 534 in 2022. Out of the 14 guidelines, ten are specific to mitigating human conflict with elephants, gaurs, leopards, snakes, crocodiles, rhesus macaques, wild pigs, bears, blue bulls and blackbucks.
The other four guidelines are related to effective communication through different media, occupational and health and safety, crowd management in the conflict-related situation, and addressing health emergencies and potential health risks arising out of HCW. The guidelines were developed under the Indo-German cooperation project on HWC mitigation. They will be implemented by MoEFCC in collaboration with the forest departments of Karnataka, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
The German government’s charity arm GIZ will also help in their implementation. The guidelines were prepared after hundreds of regional and national consultations with over 1600 participants between 2018-2022. They will be reviewed every five years.
